Member Questions

I had high blood pressure on/off during my first pregnancy, starting at 6 months. I was eventually induced (on my due date) because of my high blood pressure and having protein in my urine. I'm curious as to why the doctor didn't write me off from work early when my blood pressure kept going up and down, especially when I told her that I work on my feet solid all day in a fast-paced grocery store. If my condition was bad enough to induce me, why wasn't it considered bad enough to take me off work a few months early as a precautionary measure?? I'm now pregnant again and don't want to deliver early because of my blood pressure. Any suggestions on getting a doctor to write me off work early if need be?”

It sounds like you may have had pre-eclampsia. I'm not certain why your MD didn't excuse you from work; however, I do think that you should be extra mindful and communicative to your MD now that it's your 2nd time around. Pre-eclampsia is the only thought that comes to mind, and of course I could be wrong. You should do a little research on it and see if you feel like your symptoms and physical/history (any autoimmune issues, etc) that might make you prone to be pre-eclamptic. The safest thing you can do is be proactive and educated as you move through your pregnancy. The protein in the urine is also a pre-eclampsia sign. My doctor let me go full-term with 6.5lbs (a piece) twins. I weighed 129 when I became pregnant and 203lb on my delivery day (that's a 74lb gain!!!). Obviously NOT HEALTHY, but my physician wrote off my weight saying it was just fluid/twins, etc. Well. on my delivery day, my BP was 160/95. I left 4 days later with elevated BP and no indication that I should be concerned at all. Well-1 week AFTER I delivered, I took a cab to the ER and was admitted with a BP of 205/120

I was put on partial bed rest after my BP spiked to 170/110 when I was 35 weeks pregnant. Before that, it was 120/80 every single time. Maybe because yours was already up and down, your doctor didn't think it would be detrimental for you to continue working.